The sweeper — a horizontal slider — had long been lumped in with other breaking balls. Thanks to a change in the Statcast system, it is suddenly its own thing.
The gap between the American League’s two best teams proved awfully wide, with Houston heading to the World Series as the Yankees wonder what went wrong.
Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge gave the Yankees an early lead in Game 5 of their division series and Nestor Cortes and the bullpen made it last. Next up: the Houston Astros.
Nestor Cortes’s gutsy performance on short rest helped the Yankees get past Cleveland and has the bullpen rested ahead of the American League Championship Series.